Losses
by Glacierclaw
Summary: This is a little one shot fic about Redtail, since there aren't many out there.


Hi! I'm back with my second one-shot fic about Redtail. I figured I really need to be writing more, so here it is. Hope you like this!

* * *

"Tigerclaw, you can come," I instructed the warriors. "You, too, Darkstripe, Runningwind, Longtail, Willowpelt, and Mousefur." I wanted Mousefur for her first battle. "Whitestorm, Lionheart, stay here and guard the camp." 

The two great warriors nodded and moved to guard the entrance. The five other named cats followed me to the gorse tunnel. It was then when Dustpaw, my apprentice, ran forward, his amber eyes shining.

"Can I come too, Redtail?" he asked eagerly. "I'd show RiverClan who was boss, really."

I stared at him. Dustpaw and his sister, Sandpaw, had no idea that I was their father. I wasn't sure why I had asked Speckletail to keep the secret from them, but I was pretty sure that I liked it better this way. I did not want him in this probably vicious battle against RiverClan – it was sure to be bloody.

"No, I'm sorry, Dustpaw," I replied, and Dustpaw's tail drooped. "Perhaps in the near future, when you are stronger."

Dustpaw hesitated before responding, "All right, Redtail." And he padded away.

I flicked my tail at the warriors behind me and we left the camp, toward RiverClan territory where they had invaded Sunningrocks. Runningwind, one of my best friends, sidled up to me.

"You should have let him come." Runningwind knew that Dustpaw was my son.

I was surprised. "Why?"

"He's been in training for about two moons now. As I remember, your mentor, Patchpelt, let you go to a battle when you were half a moon into your training."

I purred with nervous laughter, shaking from going into a battle. "That is different."

The trees disappeared as the familiar territory of Sunningrocks came into view. At first, I couldn't see any of the RiverClan invasion, but then I noticed lithe, wet shapes scrounging around the bases of the rocks. I growled; I really hated it when there were uninvited warriors in ThunderClan territory.

A reddish brown tom stepped forward, narrowing his eyes and swishing his tail in an arrogant manner. "Redtail!" cried Oakheart. "Give these hunting grounds to us and we will let your warriors go unharmed."

I snorted loudly. "I think not, Oakheart," I snarled, and flicked my tail at my Clan.

We crept silently forward, dark shapes under the moon, and sprang into the battle. The air was soon filled with fur and the screeches of cats. I knocked aside a black tom who was none other than Blackclaw – he was slightly older than me, but I wanted to be sure that he was humiliated by a younger warrior. I ducked as his claws swept over my ears and flew at him, claws outstretched. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Tigerclaw had Oakheart pinned down. Good, I thought. Show him, Tigerclaw. I gave Blackclaw a warning bite to the neck and let him go.

I was surprised when Blackclaw kept after me – that bite had been pretty vicious. I dodged his blow and rammed into him, pinning him down to the grass. He snarled at me, clawing at my legs, and soon he became to tired to fight me any more. I snapped at his hind legs with my jaws as he fled.

I was stunned when I saw that we were losing terribly. RiverClan had brought along more warriors than I had anticipated – I should have brought Whitestorm, I thought bitterly. I glanced at Tigerclaw. He no longer had Oakheart pinned down because he'd been saving Mousefur from a RiverClan cat's grip. I rushed toward him.

"Tigerclaw!" I cried. "This is useless. There are too many RiverClan warriors!"

Tigerclaw stared at me with defiant amber eyes. "No, Redtail," he meowed calmly, leaping to my side. "This is our territory!" I saw that his muzzle had been heavily scratched.

I sighed and mewed, "ThunderClan will honor your courage, Tigerclaw, but we cannot afford to lose any more of our warriors. Bluestar would never expect her warriors to fight against these impossible odds." I hoped I was right and Bluestar wouldn't be angry at me for calling a retreat. "We will have another chance to avenge this defeat," I added, and Tigerclaw hesitated, and nodded.

"Retreat, ThunderClan!" I cried, leaping onto a boulder to reach all of the cats. "Retreat!"

I watched Runningwind struggle away from a larger tom who had him pinned down. The tom gave him a nasty bite to the hind leg and he fled quickly. I hated to see the looks of confusion on the RiverClan warriors' faces as my Clan retreated – and Oakheart's cry of victory was the worst of them all. I glanced down at my warriors and flicked my tail, beckoning them into the trees.

As we left Sunningrocks in very low spirits, I was wondering how I'd explain this to Bluestar and prayed that the Clan would not blame me for this terrible defeat. We'll try again soon, I thought. Sunningrocks will belong to us again.

As soon as we made it back to camp, the four apprentices rushed forward, eager to see if we had won or not, but faltered at the terrible looks on our faces. I padded over to Bluestar's den.

"Bluestar?" I mewed hesitantly.

"Redtail!" she exclaimed in surprise, rubbing her nose against mine in greeting. "I did not expect you to be back this quickly."

"Neither did I, Bluestar," I replied, "because we…we failed. I'm so sorry, but the RiverClan invasion was too much for us. We'll try again in a couple days, after our wounds have healed."

Bluestar's mouth opened as though to say something, but her voice wouldn't make a sound. "ThunderClan has not been beaten in its own territory since I became leader," she murmured bitterly. "You are right, Redtail – we will try again. After our warriors' wounds are healed."

I nodded, so happy that she was not angry with me. "Good night, Bluestar," I mewed, and headed backward out her den.

* * *

In about two or three days, we did indeed try again. In fact, it wasn't even intentional. Tigerclaw, his apprentice Ravenpaw, and I were simply hunting by the stream. We hadn't meant to encounter the five RiverClan warriors there, and I was shocked to see that they were already hunting freely. 

I growled angrily and stepped forward. I recognized Oakheart among the five and spoke directly to him.

"Oakheart," I growled, "keep your hunting parties out of ThunderClan territory. The next RiverClan cat to be caught in our territory will be killed."

Oakheart scoffed and came toward me, not caring at all that he was trespassing. "My Clan needs to be fed, whatever we threatened."

The RiverClan cats attacked us. I dodged between their sleek, wet bodies and looked for Oakheart, but I couldn't see him anywhere. I spotted Ravenpaw, cowering and shaking because of a wound in his shoulder. "Go!" I snapped at the apprentice. "Hide in the crack in the rock until it is safe to get away."

The black apprentice nodded and scurried away. My eyes scanned the battlefield, looking for Tigerclaw, when I spotted a huge gray warrior. I launched at him, screeching, claws flailing. I knocked him to the ground and recognized him as the warrior Stonefur. His eyes widened as I unsheathed my claws and stalked toward him.

"Raahhh!" I cried as I felt teeth sink into my scruff. I looked behind me and saw Oakheart pulling me off Stonefur. He threw me to the side and barked an order at the gray warrior - who ran away. I scrambled to my feet and faced the RiverClan deputy, spitting, "Are RiverClan warriors unable to fight there own battles?"

I was shaking. The reddish-brown tom was twice my size. Oakheart narrowed his eyes and meowed, "No ThunderClan cat will ever harm that warrior."

Confused, I flew at Oakheart. I wanted to cause this warrior serious damage for taking part of our territory. I bowled him over and we both landed underneathlarge boulders. We snarled, tusseling fiercely, and I felt his claws rake me more than once. I was terrified when I heard a rumbling sound...the rocks were falling!

"Ahh!" I yelled in terror as the rocks collapsed – Oakheart was trapped underneath them. Only the tip of my tail was caught. I struggled to free myself and exploded out of the dust, feeling so proud of myself, but then realized that Oakheart had not gotten up. I was horrified to see that a ginger tail was sticking out from the rocks.

Oh, StarClan, no, I had killed Oakheart!

I rushed back to the battle, seeing that Tigerclaw was struggling viciously against a huge tom. Tigerclaw must have sent him away, because he was hurrying back to camp. I grasped the tom who was attacking Tigerclaw by the scruff and flung him into the bushes, where he yowled and ran away.

"We won," I whispered, so pleased with myself. "I can't believe we did it. Sunningrocks is ours again! We did it!" I waited for Tigerclaw's mew of triumph, but it never came. "Tigerclaw?"

I turned around…just in time to see him leap at me, huge claws stretched. I yowled in shock and ducked underneath, but he had a firm hold of me by the neck. As I cried and struggled in agony, I saw a pair of huge amber eyes watching this.

"No, Tigerclaw!" I begged. "Please!"

He didn't answer. I couldn't move; the huge warrior was too powerful. I had no choice but to let him take my life. I felt a bite to the neck shoot through me, and suddenly, I was falling through darkness.

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Sigh…have you noticed that in almost every one of my fics, someone has to die? Has anyone noticed that? What is wrong with me? XD Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed this little one-shot about Redtail, and don't forget to leave a review! 


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